Nocturnal Courtship
by Tamysan
Summary: Howlyn's pursuit of Renee Palmer takes another sinister turn..C& C welcome, continuing story in chapter form. Unfinished as of Oct. 4, 2005.
1. Chapter One

"Nocturnal Courtship"  
  
Chapter One  
  
"Are you sure this will work, Sandoval?" Howlyn's dark brows knitted together as he spoke. "It had better - for your sake."  
  
"Patience, Howlyn. I guarantee this will ensure that Renee Palmer will be in your posession soon enough." Sandoval's voice was cool and collected and he learned never to let any weakness show in front of Howlyn - or any other being for that matter.  
  
"You guarantee much but is the Earth MINE?" The Atavus leader snarled.  
  
"It will be soon enough." Sandoval crossed his hands as he stood in front of the Atavus. "The number of hybrid chambers on the earth below is increasing - despite Ms. Palmer's sabotage at the Tenzer plant. She cannot be everywhere at once."  
  
"And yet she thwarts me at every turn..." Howlyn seethed with frustration, even as he felt an admiration for the human female that he lusted for desperately.  
  
"She won't this time. The implant will make sure of that. She knows nothing of it and it cannot be detected by existing technologies - including those left over by the Taelon."  
  
Sandoval smiled thinly at Howlyn's ever-present edginess. Sandoval knew he was right in siding with the Atavus, and using Howlyn's obsession with Renee Palmer to his benefit. It was a dangerous game that he played, but he did not care - as long as he was able to see Earth go down in humiliating defeat to the Atavus. That was his obsession.  
  
"No..." Howlyn's sharp featured face lit up in a menacing smile. "She cannot elude me there. Finally I shall torment her as she has tormented me.."  
  
"As it should be, Howlyn." Sandoval nodded. "There is a saying on Earth - Patience is a virtue."  
  
Howlyn laughed harshly. "Then I suppose we are a virtuous lot!" Suddenly his mood changed as he grabbed Sandoval by his lapel. "This had better work, Sandoval. I will have no qualms about feasting upon you."  
  
The Atavus hissed as his free hand went towards Sandoval's heart. The human remained infuriatingly calm, much to Howlyn's frustration. He wanted to see Sandoval's fear - and he would eventually. He let the human go and Sandoval stepped back.  
  
~You will either bow or die like the rest, Sandoval.~ Howlyn thought. Aloud, he barked. "Leave me!"  
  
"Of course, Howlyn." Sandoval said coolly as he nodded slightly and left the room, glad to leave the Atavus' presence.  
  
****  
  
Juda had a disconcerting habit as of late to appear in front of Howlyn unexpectedly - something that the Atavus prince disliked. As a matter of fact, she had bothered him as of late and wanted little to do with her - a fact that Juda noticed.  
  
"My lord.." Juda purred as she wound herself around one of the pillars that graced Howlyn's private chambers.  
  
Howlyn barely looked at her as he paced back and forth, tense and agitated. Juda smiled seductively and made her way to him. She knew Howlyn's moods and knew just how to ease his tensions. That he had not taken her to his bed as of late she attributed to the problems of conquering the planet of humans - that was what she told herself.  
  
"Howlyn.." Juda slid her hands over the Atavus' tensed muscled back as he paused in his pacing. "You are tense.." She let her breath tickle the fine hairs on his neck, something which she knew in the past would arouse him. He said nothing, nor did he move, but Juda was persistent. She kneaded his muscles and slid her body against his seductively as she did so, hissing and letting him know that she wished to give him her undivided attention.  
  
Howlyn only gazed at the stars through the window and then he turned to Juda, his eyes hooded. His full lips curled into a faint feral smile and Juda rejoiced in that. She returned his smile, her eyes filled with wantonness and need. Without warning, Howlyn snarled and dove for Juda's neck, burying his mouth against her flesh. Juda's mouth opened as she hissed her pleasure. Ah, yes this was more like it and as it should be! She felt Howlyn trail his tongue against her neck and then go upwards towards her lips. Waiting breathlessly, Juda parted her lips, waiting for the familiar heated kiss of her liege-lord and lover.  
  
"Juda." Howlyn's eyes glittered darkly. "Leave me."  
  
She was ready to say something when the impact of his words hit her.  
  
"What?" Juda's eyes flashed angrily. She was being rebuffed!  
  
"You heard me." Howlyn said curtly as he let her go. Juda took a step away from him, a heat rising to her face - different from the sexual heat she had felt before.  
  
"It's HER, isn't it?" Juda spat. "That human female, Renee Palmer!"  
  
"Spare me your petty jealousy!" Howlyn roared.  
  
"Jealous! Jealous of a mere human female who wouldn't last an hour in your bed!" Juda spat! "You risk everything just to bed the little bitch!"  
  
"You will be SILENT!" Howlyn charged at Juda and tackled her roughly. They fell to the floor and Juda laughed lowly.  
  
"Yes, Howlyn..take me.." She purred. "Take me and we shall climb to the heights of ecstacy together. You and I.." She gloried in the mask of rage on his face - a sight that would have terrified a human. Juda caressed his face, knowing that the rage and frustration Howlyn felt would turn into passion and then things would be as they should be.  
  
Howlyn stared down at Juda for a moment and then he sneered, "I think not."  
  
He got up without another word, leaving Juda speechless for a moment. She rose gracefully off the floor, and contained the anger that seethed within her. She wanted to rend Howlyn in two - better yet tear his heart out like she would a human, but she did not, would not. He would come to his senses eventually and she would be the victor.  
  
She walked towards the door and said, "You'll regret lusting for your little human toy, Howlyn. She'll resist you to the end and once you've broken her - "  
  
"Get OUT." Howlyn hissed in rage as he turned his face towards Juda.  
  
A tight hateful smile crossed her full lips as she continued, "You'll come back to me." With that she walked out the door, ignoring Howlyn's roar of rage. 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
"Sleep.." Renee murmured as she kept working at her computer doggedly. It was very late but she kept pushing herself even though the screen came in and out of focus at times. She was on the trail of another lead on the possibility of yet another plant being used to mass produce hybrid chambers. She should have known that the explosion at Tanzer had only slowed their progress down and that Sandoval would have had a back up plan.  
  
"Give it up already, Renee.." Renee jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was of course, Street.  
  
"I'm nearly there." Renee said with a slight tired smile.  
  
"You said that an hour ago." Street smirked as she crossed her arms.  
  
"But I really am." Renee insisted.  
  
"Yeah, right." Street swiveled Renee's chair around away from the screen. "Look at you. You're practically falling asleep on the keyboard."  
  
"That doesn't matter." Renee shook her head. "I need to work on this."  
  
"You need to get some sleep. You're not good to anyone like this."  
  
Renee sighed. Maybe she was right. Her mind felt like it was getting fuzzy, going over the same things over and over again without any result.  
  
"I guess you're right." Renee wearily got up and moved her hair out of her eyes.  
  
"I know I'm right. Now get some sleep." Street propelled her along.  
  
"Yeah, thanks. Good night, Street.."  
  
"'Night.." Street said. "Don't let the Atavus bite."  
  
"That wasn't even remotely funny, Street." Renee frowned.  
  
Street laughed. "You need to lighten up, Renee, or you'll lose it. Now go to bed."  
  
****  
  
When her head finally hit the pillow, Renee could already feel the heavy presence of sleep lower her eyelids and she smiled gratefully. Too many nights she had had difficulty getting to sleep, but not tonight anyway. Tomorrow she'd be fresh and she would work on the leads and get her answers.  
  
"Renee.." She felt a hand upon her shoulder and she turned.  
  
"You." She said flatly, instinctively drawing away.  
  
Howlyn smiled, his eyes glittering. "Yes, it is I. Are you not glad to see me?" He reached out a hand to brush against her cheek.  
  
"If you really think my answer is yes then you're delusional." Renee shrugged her shoulders.  
  
Howlyn chuckled softly. "Ever defiant. I like that."  
  
"What do you want, Howlyn?" Renee felt an unwanted warmth rush into her cheeks.  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" Howlyn's pale face seemed to glow in the darkness. "Surely you know."  
  
Renee refused to give the obvious answer. She would not give the Atavus the satisfaction. He circled her like a predator around it's prey and his eyes sparkled in amusement at her anger.  
  
"Do you remember that time on the mothership?" Howlyn said casually - almost too casually. "You and I were alone, no others.." She felt a breeze in her hair and realized it was Howlyn's breath upon her neck. It made her shiver.  
  
"And here we are again - alone." Howlyn smiled as he grazed his lips against the side of her neck, with Renee wondering how he had gotten there.  
  
Where in the hell was her gun? Something - anything to get away from Howlyn's closeness.  
  
"Where's your pet, Sandoval?" Renee taunted.  
  
Howlyn chuckled. "He awaits my bidding, as you will do soon enough."  
  
This time it was Renee's turn to laugh. "You ARE delusional, Howlyn."  
  
"Really?" Howlyn asked as his hands slipped around Renee's waist, moving across the black tank top that she invariably wore. Howlyn was a bit too cool - at least that was what Renee thought.  
  
"I know your desires, Renee.." Howlyn did not wait for any answer from Renee at all. "I know them as well as I know my own."  
  
"You don't know ME, Howlyn and you never will." Renee snapped at the Atavus but found herself unable or perhaps it was unwilling to pull away.  
  
"I will know you fully, Renee. In every way possible." Howlyn was suddenly in front of her now and had pulled her close.  
  
"You'll never - " Renee felt the heat rise from her and it alarmed her considerably. "Know me."  
  
"I shall know enough to break through your wall of resistance." Howlyn smiled. "And once that is broken, you shall be mine completely."  
  
"I will NEVER be yours!" Renee pushed him away. "And Earth will never fall to your kind!"  
  
"Saving your Earth is only a pallid excuse!" Howlyn sneered. "It was YOU who released me and my kind, don't forget that!" Howlyn's smile was a feral one.  
  
"I have NEVER forgotten that, bastard!" Tears fell from Renee's face. Howlyn laughed at the sudden tears - something that he never had seen before.  
  
Renee wanted nothing more than to kill the Atavus standing before her. Howlyn seemed to sense that, for his eyes kindled with an inner fire.  
  
"You are like me.." Suddenly Howlyn was holding her close, tracing the track of a tear down her cheek with a fingernail very gently.  
  
"I am not - like you." Renee whispered, ducking her head and not understanding why her tears came so freely. What was wrong with her?  
  
And then they were impossibly kissing, Howlyn holding her head in place although Renee was not struggling against him. The kiss stirred Renee and made her weak in the knees, for they threatened to buckle under her. Incredibly enough it was Howlyn who broke the kiss and as Renee stared at him, he backed away, a knowing smile upon his alien face.  
  
It was then that Renee woke up with a start, her eyes wide in the darkness of her room. When she went back to sleep, she slept dreamlessly and when her alarm went off, she did not remember the dream. 


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three  
  
Howlyn was in a suprisingly good mood - for him that is. His eyes glittered with an unconcealed excitement as he remembered the 'dream'. She had resisted him and that had been expected, but in the end, she had not. That she had responded to him, wanted him, filled him with an unaccustomed joy.  
  
"Howlyn." Sandoval's voice came through the communications terminal.  
  
Sandoval. Howlyn's lips compressed into a straight line. He would be glad when it was time to dispose of the human. Useful he was, but to a point. Howlyn knew that he would betray them to his own interests eventually.  
  
"What is it.." Howlyn replied shortly.  
  
"I just wanted to inform you that we've been able to replicate the formula for mass producing the hybrid chambers."  
  
"Well done, Sandoval. " Howlyn said. "Your persistance in our cause will be well rewarded."  
  
"I only seek revenge, Howlyn. Nothing more."  
  
"How soon will production start? I do not want the chambers to be in one location lest we have a repeat of what occurred last time."  
  
"Immediately." Sandoval said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "We have taken precautions as to the various locations of the chambers, and of course we have the cooperation of the CEO's."  
  
"Hybrids, yes.." Howlyn smirked. "And more will become as we are. Soon there will be too many of them in power for the humans to fight and this ship will cease to be my prison."  
  
"That is only a matter of time, Howlyn." Sandoval said. "Just do not forget that it was I who helped to make it possible."  
  
"I would never forget, Sandoval." Howlyn said. "Resume your duties." He cut off the transmission and turned away.  
  
Soon..so very soon, all would be under his control and the Atavus would reign.  
  
****  
  
"There." Renee said, looking over Street's shoulder at the computer screen. "Caitlyn Chambler, CEO of Aeris Biotechics."  
  
"She was just appointed what - a month ago?" Street asked.  
  
"Yes, as a result of company reorganization.." Renee stared intently at the screen. "There's been a lot of those as of late."  
  
"Got that right." Street took her eyes off the screen for a moment. "Too many to be coincidental."  
  
"Damn them.." Renee muttered.  
  
"We'll get them." Street glanced at Renee. She knew her partner was frustrated by their lack of progress in defeating the Atavus and their growing number of Human-Atavus hybrids. For each step they took forward, they were pushed back two more.  
  
"You got that right." Renee said. "One way or the other."  
  
****  
  
It had been a most unproductive day for Renee. Her lead at Aeris Biotechnics had come to a dead end. There was nothing there to indicate that they were doing anything but normal routine company functions. Street had found nothing - even her hacking into the rabbit warren of files that Aeris had revealed nothing - not even the smallest of clues. But Renee knew there had to be something, her gut instinct told her that. Aeris was only one of many companies that could be used in the manufacture of hybrid chambers. The formula that Zack Winslow had formulated - surely there would be another who could come up with the same equation as he had, and would have no qualms over using it for the Atavus. No, not all humans posessed loyalty - Sandoval was a prime example of that.  
  
She sipped her drink as she eyed the patrons at Flat Earth. Same crowd as there usually was. How many were human and how many were hybrid, she wondered. Tiredly she closed her eyes. God, she was tired of fighting an enemy that seemed unbeatable. In trying to find their weakness, she had released a psychopathic killer in the world and had killed a young man who had been trying to fight against his Atavus demon.  
  
Guilt. Such terrible guilt. If she and the others ever defeated the Atavus, she would still have this guilt over her head. She opened her eyes and sighed, wishing that Boone were here. At least he had offered a brief comfort from the storms that seemed to surround her at every turn. She had not wanted him to go - a weakness she was sure - but she understood.  
  
God, she was tired of understanding..  
  
Renee finished her drink and debated whether to go back to her apartment or to go back and do some more research. No, she decided. Tonight she would just go back to her apartment. Maybe - maybe she'd get drunk. Yeah, like she had that option. Always she had to be on guard, ever vigilant. She wonderered if the day would ever come where she could just breathe easily without fearing something would happen.  
  
****  
  
Renee lounged on her couch in her darkened apartment, trying not to really think about anything in particular. Her window was partly open to allow the cooling breeze into the room. Stupid in these times but she didn't care at the moment. She would shut it before she went to sleep.  
  
A sudden longing swept over her and she wished that Boone was here right now to chase away her fear and her lonliness. She always hid it so well because she was too busy trying to save others from the Atavus invasion that she didn't have time to dwell upon it. But it was in the quiet of the night when she was alone with her thoughts that it would hit her like a ton of bricks.  
  
~God, you are being so stupid, Renee..~ She downed the drink that she had in her hand and placed the glass back on the end table with a clink.  
  
"Renee?" A familar voice cut into her thoughts.  
  
"Boone?" Her eyes widened as she saw a figure outside her window.  
  
"Yeah." She heard the window open further and she could make out Boone's familar form in the dim light that came through the window.  
  
"Hey.." She smiled as she got up to greet him, wrapping her arms around him.  
  
"Hey yourself." Boone smiled down at her as Renee leaned against him. She smiled and reached up to run her fingers through his hair.  
  
"So glad you're back." Renee murmured. Boone smiled at her and then without a word, kissed her gently. Renee sighed. This was what she needed - his arms around her. Just to feel - safe - if only for a little while. For a moment, Renee swayed with Boone, their kiss intensifying. Her eyes were closed and she felt at peace. When they drew away, Renee's eyes opened and then they widened in shock.  
  
"Howlyn!"  
  
Where Boone had been a moment ago, there stood Howlyn, his arms securely around Renee's waist. He laughed softly, his eyes dancing with delight.  
  
"In the flesh.." He said lowly as he rested her forehead upon hers.  
  
"This - can't be happening." Renee twisted in Howlyn's grasp.  
  
"But it is." Howlyn whispered against her lips. "You want me."  
  
"I do NOT!" Renee spat angrily.  
  
"You want to stop fighting? Is that it, Renee? Then do so." One of Howlyn's hands grazed her hip and Renee flinched, feeling the Atavus' fingertips against her skin. Teasingly they rested just above her underwear, and Renee felt horribly exposed in just that and a loose fitting t-shirt.  
  
"H - how do you know that?" Renee shivered. Dear god, could Atavus read minds too?  
  
Howlyn smirked. "I know you, Renee Palmer. I know your mind and how weary you feel." His voice seemed to take on a hypnotic quality.  
  
"I am not - weary." Renee felt as if all her energy were draining away. She couldn't pull away from him even though she wanted to.  
  
"You are, Renee. I admire your fortitude but the time has come to surrender yourself to me." Renee felt herself sinking against softness and knew that quite inexplicably, she was on the couch with Howlyn on top of her.  
  
"I will never surrender." Renee looked up into Howlyn's eyes, which glittered with triumph.  
  
"But you want to - don't you? Admit it and perhaps I'll let you go - this time."  
  
"Go to hell!" Renee yelled and at last the lethargy that had held her in thrall broke and she started fighting him.  
  
Howlyn growled lowly in his throat and Renee knew that her struggles were only fueling his desire.  
  
"Fight me!" Howlyn laughed. "Fight me and then we shall discuss the terms of your surrender to me!"  
  
"You son of a bitch!" Renee slapped his face and Howlyn grabbed her wrists painfully, his eyes blazing down into hers.  
  
"I shall enjoy your surrender, Renee Palmer - just as you surely will!" Howlyn pressed her down onto the cushions and Renee tried to bite him, but missed because Howlyn was so much quicker.  
  
He laughed. "See? You ARE like me!"  
  
"No!" Renee looked desperate.  
  
"Willing to do anything to achieve your goals..." He said lowly, pulling back her wrists. "Flinging yourself into the enemy's keep time and time again - fearless like an Atavus!"  
  
"I - hate - you." Renee snarled back.  
  
"You hate what you feel for me, Renee Palmer!" Howlyn pulled her upwards by the wrists painfully. "Admit it and set yourself free!"  
  
"NO!" Renee yelled. "I will not betray my world!"  
  
"You mean you won't betray yourself.." Howlyn smirked. He abruptly let her go and then before Renee could do anything further, he was gone as if he had never been.  
  
Renee sat up, still feeling Howlyn's touch on her. Her body ached and her mind was reeling as she looked around the room. The window was partially open and she ran up to close and lock it quickly. Biting her lip, she went back to the couch and cried.  
  
It was the sunlight that shined through her living room window that finally awakened her. 


End file.
